While intended to serve as more a line-trooper than IrTech's mediocre Hermes II, the Liberator maintains a similar ground speed as the IrTech design, mounting six and half tons of armor, just one ton less than the Hermes II to carry a heavier weapons load-out. Despite easily outperforming the Hermes II, the Liberator was doomed by a severe flaw in its revolutionary torso design which resulted in the complete failure of the production model's cooling system, missed in the hand-built prototypes due to different manufacturing techniques. [1]

Covering up the issue to save the now multi-billion Eagle contract with the LCCC in the hopes of being able to eventually fix the problem, the flaws were graphically revealed at the first public unveiling. Planning a carefully managed routine that allowed the 'Mech plenty of time to cool down, after the formal testing concluded Captain-General Janos Marik requested Kali Yama have the Liberator destroy an abandoned Augustus tank, the 'Mech's ammunition detonating under the crippling heat generated by a full barrage in under a minute. [1]

With the marketing and contracts immediately cancelled, the Liberator's reputation was forever darkened by this failure, as Kali Yama eventually conceded to correct the issue would require the entire chassis to be rebuilt from scratch. The remaining three surviving prototypes would languish for nearly half a century. In a touch of irony, the last was destroyed in a live fire exercise by the Augustus' descendent, the Moltke.[1]

Trading the Hermes II's Autocannon/5, Medium Laser and Flamer for missile racks and an upgraded laser, the Liberator offered a harder punch. Carrying an LRM-5 in each arm as primary weapons supported by a center torso mounted Large Laser, an SRM-2 rack fitted to the 'Mech's left torso provided close-range backup. A single ton of LRM and SRM reloads gave the design reasonable endurance in the field, with designers determining on paper that volley fire alternating between the missile launchers with the laser to easily manage the 'Mech's heat load.[1]